Food preparation components, especially those used for packaging, and cooking, as well as browning and crisping food products, are disclosed. More particularly, components having susceptor portions for preparing foods which include dough, at least some of which is exposed (i.e., uncovered by other food stuff) for cooking, browning, crisping, and optionally, rising, are disclosed.
Heretofore, considerable effort has been expended to provide food products such as frozen pizzas for preparation by a consumer, utilizing conventional gas or electric heated ovens. More recently, with the increasing popularity of microwave ovens, attention has turned to providing consumers with kits and components for preparing dough-containing products such as frozen pizzas. As has been detailed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,416,304, microwave ovens exhibit their own unique challenges when preparing frozen food products. For example, microwave ovens exhibit substantial temperature gradients or non-uniform heating. In addition, frozen dough-containing products have been found to exhibit a nonuniform temperature response to microwave radiation throughout their volume, during a typical heating cycle. As a result, portions of the food item melt or thaw before other portions and this results in localized accelerated heating due to the preferential absorption of microwave energy by liquids being irradiated. As a result of these and other conditions, further improvements in the preparation and packaging of dough-containing food products are being sought.